1. Field Of The Invention
The present invention relates generally to cabinets having hinged pocket doors which swing laterally outwardly or upwardly, and can then be recessed. The present invention specifically relates to vertical cabinets and the like having at least one slidably concealable hinged pocket door and similar apparatus enabling the hinged side of the door to be positioned flush with the side of the cabinet to which it is hinged such that the cabinet includes no side panels adjacent the front door panels.
2. Prior Art
Designers of furniture, particularly office furniture such as storage cabinets and the like, have long desired to produce an attractive and useful cabinet design incorporating cabinet doors which have hinged edges mounted flush with the sides of the cabinet to which they are hinged. In prior art cabinets, a schematic representation of which appears in FIG. 3, the cabinet 30 typically includes two vertical doors 32, i.e., doors which are hinged to pivot on a vertical axis, having conventional hinges (not shown) secured to their vertical side edges. The doors 32 are conventionally secured within a supporting framework masked or concealed by a peripheral border or "window" 33 of material such as sheet metal. For example, in the cabinet 30 shown in FIG. 3, the "window" 33 surrounding doors 32 is formed of narrow, elongated top and bottom panels 34 and 35 and elongated side panels 36. However, the presence of a "window" 33 such as shown in FIG. 3 is considered undesirable by some furniture designers, because it creates narrow, elongated channels or gaps at the points where the doors 32 and the "window" 33 meet. In the cabinet 30 of FIG. 3, a vertical channel or gap 38 exists at the point where the vertical outer edges of doors 32 meet and clear panels 36. Further, an elongated, horizontal gap 39 exists at the point where the top horizontal edges of doors 32 meet and clear panel 34. These gaps 38 and 39 are considered unsightly by many designers, because the panels interrupt the otherwise uniform surface of the doors 32, and interfere with motifs, finishes, and other materials applied to the surfaces of doors 32.
A further challenge to the furniture designer arises because many designers desire to create cabinet doors which slide into and are concealed by the cabinet superstructure when the doors are open. Certain conventional lateral files and lateral cabinets having horizontal doors, i.e., doors which are hinged to pivot on a horizontal axis, have included structures which permit the cabinet door to be lifted up and slid horizontally rearward into the cabinet structure. Such cabinets are typically referred to as pocket door cabinets, because when the door is slid into the cabinet, it is conceptually placed into a "pocket" within the cabinet structure. Prior art pocket door lateral cabinets have possessed the significant disadvantage that the pocket door is surrounded by a "window" of material which the door must clear in order to be slid into the cabinet superstructure. This window around the pocket door shares the design disadvantages discussed above in connection with the vertical door cabinet.
Thus, the prior art appears deficient in not providing a storage cabinet, door, retractable slide, and hinge structure which permits the door to be opened by rotating the door outwardly, and thereafter permits concealing the door by sliding the door rearward into the cabinet superstructure. Designers would find useful a combined cabinet door, hinge, and slide which permits the cabinet door to be concealed within the cabinet superstructure and yet uses commonly available, off-the-shelf parts for the slide and hinge.